Before the Industrial Revolution, most manufactured items were custom-manufactured to a customer's particular specifications. While customers could thus obtain items manufactured to their personal preferences, these custom-manufactured items were prohibitively expensive. Thus, a typical person might only own a few pairs of shoes.
After the Industrial Revolution, most manufactured items could be mass-produced, reducing the cost of these items. This allowed many manufactured items, e.g. automobiles, to be purchased by customers that might not otherwise have been able to purchase these items were they custom-manufactured. Still, some items, such as automobiles, clothing, and shoes continue to be custom-manufactured according to customers' specifications, as there are many customers who would prefer to accept the added expense of custom-manufacturing in order to obtain a product that meets their particular preferences. Regrettably, only a small portion of the population can afford this indulgence for many items.
Over time, systems have been developed that allow consumers to order custom-manufactured items more efficiently and at a reasonable cost. Certain systems utilize computer technology wherein consumers custom-design items for manufacture using a computer program. Computer programs can also be configured as part of a web-based system using the Internet.
While custom-manufacturing systems according to the prior art provide a number of advantageous features, they nevertheless have certain limitations. For example, the systems lack the ability for consumers to track completed designs for later reference. The present invention seeks to overcome certain of these limitations and other drawbacks of the prior art, and to provide new features not heretofore available.